A holiday bowl game in Hawai'i to send an unmistakable message about the direction of the famed Notre Dame football program?

Charlie Weis isn't the first Fighting Irish head coach to come here packing that plan, nurturing that vision.

Perhaps you remember Gerry Faust?

Nearly a quarter-century in advance of Notre Dame's game against Hawai'i Wednesday in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, Faust brought the Fighting Irish into Aloha Stadium intent on demonstrating that, after some potholes, he was leading Notre Dame in the right direction.

The 1984 Aloha Bowl was the stage for the No. 17 Irish and No. 10 Southern Methodist, with the NCAA gumshoes and "death penalty" closing in, was the opponent.

To that point Faust had gone 25-19-1 at Notre Dame and had drawn heavy flak for it.

He needed a win to close the '84 season, something to help project a robust '85 and beyond.

Sound familiar?

Weis is 28-21 (.571), percentage-wise very similar to Faust's record (.568) at the same four-year point. Though it could be argued Faust played the tougher schedules.

And for a while in the fourth quarter of that bowl game a generation ago it looked like the Irish, with Allen Pinkett and Mike Golic, would get the win in classic Irish comeback fashion for Faust, right up until the time quarterback Steve Beuerlein's last-gasp pass came up short in the end zone in a 27-20 loss.

Then, the questions about Faust's tenure heightened, percolating into 1985, which would become the gentlemanly coach's last season in South Bend.

Fast forward to today and Weis, whose status for 2009 was much debated until the administration last month reaffirmed his return. Now it is Weis who faces a make-or-break '09 and hopes to launch into it with an exclamation win against the Warriors.

The Irish had their choice of several bowls this postseason, just as Faust did in '84. This time, UH is the preferred opponent, Notre Dame believing this bowl and this matchup best suiting its current circumstances.

The Irish come here in the midst of a very un-Notre Dame-like nine-game winless bowl drought, not having won in the postseason since the Jan. 1, 1994 Cotton Bowl against Texas A&M. That right there says a lot about the on-going state of the program.

To end that slide after a 6-6 regular season would be something for Weis to hang his headset on. It would be a symbol of a corner turned, something to sell to prospective recruits and soothe, for the time being, the alums.

To add to the bowl frustration, especially against an un-ranked UH, would be to renew for the nine months leading to the start of the next season the merits of Weis staying at the helm in South Bend. Just ask Faust.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.